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JAMES HYMAN GALLERY
Hughie O'Donoghue (b.1953)
Please scroll down for further information. Hughie O'Donoghue (b.1953) The Changing Face of Moo Cow Farm 8 Mixed media on paper 37.5 x 57 cms (14¾ x 22½ inches) 2007 The Changing Face of Moo Cow Farm 1-9 'The subject of these drawings is the dynamics of change and transformation and the imaginative reconstruction of Moo Cow Farm ( Mouquet Farm) situated close to Thiepval on the Somme battlefield. An intense bombardment of the farm took place here by British artillery during August and September 1916. Underneath the farm was a huge complex of German dugouts deep underground. The disintegration of the farm is recorded in a series of aerial photographs in the IWM photo archive showing how the farm and the landscape gradually lost its form and became a wilderness. The Australian Division (who gave it the name Moo Cow Farm) suffered particularly heavy loses here and there is a memorial to them on the site. The farm today is rebuilt on almost the same spot as the original and appears like any other farm, however, the ground it stands on in reality is a war grave. The drawings were made on 9 sheets of 600g Fabriano paper on to which were collaged 9 diagrams from a military text book 'Notes on Dynamics ; for the advanced class of the ordinance college, Woolwich' G. Greenhill, 1908. In most cases parts of these diagrams can still be seen illustrating the trajectory of shells, positions of canons etc. The drawings then went through a series of processes, priming with gesso, sanding, drawing with wash and paint. Watercolour, acrylic, charcoal, ink, varnish, gesso and white lead were used. Hughie O’Donoghue November 2007 This item is sold. Please click here if you wish to buy or sell a work by this artist. | ||||||||
